2 Chronicles 5:4

And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) The Levites.—Kings has the priests; and so Syr. and Arab, here; but LXX. and Vulg., Levites. The latter term, as the tribal name, may of course be used to include the priests or Aaronites, as well as their inferior brethren. 2Chronicles 5:7 shows that the priests are intended here.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-10 The ark was a type of Christ, and, as such, a token of the presence of God. That gracious promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, does, in effect, bring the ark into our religious assemblies, if we by faith and prayer plead that promise; and this we should be most earnest for. When Christ is formed in a soul, the law written in the heart, the ark of the covenant settled there, so that it becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, there is true satisfaction in that soul.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Levites took up the ark - i. e., such of the Levites as were also priests (compare 2 Chronicles 5:7; 1 Kings 8:3).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 5:2-13. Bringing Up of the Ark of the Covenant.

2, 3. Then Solomon assembled … in the feast which was in the seventh month—The feast of the dedication of the temple was on the eighth day of that month. This is related, word for word, the same as in 1Ki 8:1-10.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Chapter Introduction

Geneva Study Bible

And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. the Levites took up the ark] According to 1 Kings the, priests performed this duty. Cp. 1 Chronicles 15:2; 1 Chronicles 15:12-13. It is clear from these passages that the Chronicler believed that in the days of David and Solomon, as in his own, the Levites were regarded as a class subordinate to the priests, having special duties distinct from those of the true “priests.” It is however more probable that in these early days all Levites were possible priests, Levi being the name of the priestly clan, and not of a lower order of priests.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - The Levites. So see Numbers 4:15, 19, 20, which, with our vers. 5, 7, throw this statement into sufficient harmony with that of the parallel (1 Kings 8:3), which purports to say that the priests only, unaided by the Kohathite Levites, performed the service. 2 Chronicles 5:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Instead of הלויּם, we have in 2 Kings #1492;כּהנים, the priests bare the ark; and since even according to the Chronicle (2 Chronicles 5:7) the priests bare the ark into the holy place, we must understand by הלויּם such Levites were also priests. - In 2 Chronicles 5:5, too the words הלויּם הכּהנים are inexact, and are to be corrected by 1 Kings 8:4, והלויּם הכּהנים. For even if the Levitic priests bare the ark and the sacred utensils of the tabernacle into the temple, yet the tabernacle itself (the planks, hangings, and coverings of it) was borne into the temple, to be preserved as a holy relic, not by priests, but only by Levites. The conj. ו before הלוים has probably been omitted only by a copyist, who was thinking of הלוים הכהנים (Joshua 3:3; Deuteronomy 17:9, Deuteronomy 17:18, etc.). - In 2 Chronicles 5:8 ויכסּוּ is an orthographical error for ויּסכּוּ, 1 Kings 8:7; cf. 1 Chronicles 28:18; Exodus 25:20. - In 2 Chronicles 5:9, too, מן־הארון has probably come into our text only by a copyist's mistake instead of מן־הקּדשׁ (1 Kings 8:8).